Bedroom Tax Deal Struck

A housing association has struck an agreement with its local council to continue providing one and two-bed homes for homeless people, despite smaller properties being prioritised for tenants hit by the bedroom tax. From next April working age tenants face an average cut of £13 a week for having one or more spare rooms. As a result, providers are trying to allocate smaller homes to under-occupying tenants who will be unable to afford their existing homes from next year.  However, the plan is set to hit new single homeless applicants – particularly those impacted by the shared accommodation rate extension to under 35s in the private rented sector – as one and two-bed homes will be “prioritised” for working age tenants under-occupying.  Bromsgrove-based housing association bdht said it had struck an “agreement” with the council to set aside smaller homes for homeless people. Under the under-occupation rules, a couple with two children under nine – living in a three-bed home – would only get housing benefit to cover a two-bed home.  bdht, through Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP), is looking at covering the short-fall for families with children on the cusp of the age exemption of the bedroom tax.  Read more on 24dash.